A few poorly chosen words can change the entire tone of a day, especially in the workplace.

One woman thought she was just enjoying a quiet lunch break until a backhanded comment sparked an awkward exchange with a coworker.

Now, she’s left wondering if she took it too far.

You’ll want to read on for this one.

AITA for returning my coworkers comment to her?

During my lunch break, I (27F) was sitting in a small, semi-private sitting area watching Instagram Reels on my phone with my headphones in.

I don’t really like to chat on my breaks, so I usually keep my head down.

But note everyone got the hint.

I saw someone in my peripheral and looked up to find my coworker—let’s call her Cathy (50s F)—waving to get my attention.

I took my headphones out, and the first thing she said was, “You look very flat today.”

This wasn’t at all what she was expecting to hear.

I was pretty taken aback. I actually thought I looked nice today, but I hadn’t done anything different than usual, and I was interacting with people as I normally do, so it wasn’t based on my personality.

I was actually pretty embarrassed that she’d gone out of her way to tell me I didn’t look nice, so I just sarcastically said, “Geez, thanks.”

She doubled down on her comment, saying I looked tired.

So she lost her patience on Cathy.

So I replied that she didn’t look great either.

I meant it to be playful, but I could tell instantly from her face that the joke didn’t land.

I said sorry and that I was just joking, but she rolled her eyes and walked away.

My comment was quite rude, but she did start it. And she’s made a few rude comments about my appearance in the past, so I think I snapped a little.

AITA?

“Flat”? What does that even mean?

Let’s head to the comment section for Reddit’s take.

If you don’t have anything to say, then don’t say anything at all.

Who wants to take time out of their well-deserved break just to be insulted?

Hot tip, Cathy: Headphones are the universal “don’t talk to me” signal.

Cathy definitely deserved to be called out here.

Maybe now her coworker will think twice before offering unsolicited opinions.

If you liked this post, you might want to read this story about a teacher who taught the school’s administration a lesson after they made a sick kid take a final exam.